Birthright

going to insist you let me handle the meeting. He’s come here all the way from Atlanta. He’s come onto your turf,” she said to Callie. “Let’s give him some credit for it.”
    “I’ll give him plenty of credit once he tells us where his rat-bastard, son-of-a-bitching father is. Just getting that out of my system.” She smiled fiercely at Jake.
    At the sound of a car driving over gravel, Lana went to the window, nudged back the curtain. “I’d say this is our man. Doug, for God’s sake sit down and stop hulking.”
    “Okay.” He went to the sofa, sat on the other side of Callie.
    “Great.” She poked her elbows in his and Jake’s ribs. “Now I’ve got bookends. Let me breathe a little, would you? I think I’m a little past the point where I can be snatched again and put up for resale.”
    “Stop bitching,” Doug said mildly. “This is what we call a show of solidarity.”
    “Yeah, the hundred-and-twenty-pound infant, her long-lost brother and her ex-husband. Some show.”
    Jake draped an arm behind her, over the back of her shoulders. “I’m enjoying it.”
    Lana opened the door. Her voice was coolly polite. “Mr. Carlyle? I’m Lana Campbell.” She offered a hand.“I’d like to thank you for coming all this way to speak with us. Please come in. I hope you’ll excuse the informality. There was a fire in my office recently, and I’m working temporarily out of my home. I believe you’ve met both Dr. Dunbrook and Dr. Graystone.”
    He looked, Callie thought, considerably fatigued. More than a short flight warranted. He also kept a firm grip on the handle of his briefcase.
    “This is Douglas Cullen,” Lana began.
    “I didn’t agree to speak with any of the Cullen family.” Pointedly, Richard turned away from Doug, stared down at Lana. “I specifically requested a meeting with you and your client. If those terms weren’t agreeable, you could have saved me considerable time and trouble by saying so.”
    “As representative of the Cullen family, Mr. Cullen’s presence is not only reasonable but sensible. My client would, naturally, relay any outcome of this meeting to the Cullens.”
    Lana spoke smoothly, and without giving an inch. “Having Mr. Cullen present will avoid any chance of miscommunication. I’m sure you haven’t come all this way to object to the inclusion of one of the members of Dr. Dunbrook’s biological family. You called the meeting, Mr. Carlyle. As I’m aware you’re a very busy man, I’m sure you had good reason to make this trip.”
    “A very inconvenient trip. I want to make it clear, I won’t be interrogated.”
    “If you’d sit down, I’d be happy to get you coffee, or something cold.”
    “I won’t be here that long.” But he took a seat facing the sofa. “Dr. Dunbrook and her associate gained access to my office by claiming a family connection.”
    “You assumed the family connection,” Callie corrected. “We said I had a connection to your father. Since he made a great deal of money from selling me, that connection stands.”
    “Accusations like that are slanderous. If your attorney hasn’t warned you, then she’s incompetent. I checked on the documents you left in my office. While it’s true that thepapers for the adoption by Elliot and Vivian Dunbrook of the infant girl were not properly filed—”
    “They were fraudulent.”
    “They were not properly filed. As your own attorney should know, this oversight might very well have been the fault of the court, a law clerk, an associate or assistant.”
    “I hardly find that valid”—Lana took a seat as well—“as the petition for adoption and the final decree were both signed by all parties, bore what appears to be a forged court seal. And neither was filed in the appropriate docket.”
    “And some overworked and underpaid clerk is probably responsible.”
    “The exchange—fee for child—was made in your father’s office, Mr. Carlyle. In your father’s presence.”
    “A number of infants were placed through my father’s practice. And as with any successful practice, many people worked on the cases he took. Whatever else my father was, he was a highly respected attorney. To accuse him of taking part in this sort of heinous baby bartering is ridiculous. I won’t see his reputation damaged, and by association my own. I will not see my mother nor my children harmed by gossip.”
    “You’re not telling us anything you didn’t say in Atlanta.” Because he could feel her